[kagato3]

Originally Posted by AdamantEG

Sorry, not trying to revive old-wounds, but...

I've actually been trying to figure some things out, instead of just looking at Ichigo, Isshin, or Masaki, I've been trying to contemplate how outside-forces could affect what, or who Isshin Kurosaki really is, was, or will be.

However, I always come to the same damn conclusion; That Kaien Shiba is involved. I don't mean the two being the same, but Kaien being a central-figure in the plot around Isshin. Truly, Kubo was a genious at outlining every-character, making it impossible for us to guess what an answer to their past is, so easily.

I've ran across several possibilities, and path's extending from the roots of those possibilities, and some include the following:


- Ichigo really is the reincarnation of Kaien, but without the memories, obviously.

Path 1: As stated, no memories; However, it's never been explicitly stated that Shinigami don't retain their spiritual in the life. Maybe Ichigo had Kaien's power embedded deep within him? It's possible that being Isshin's son has nothing to do with how fast he developed; If he is the reincarnation of Kaien himself, then he would retain most of the traits, save for a few. It explains how fast he progressed -- Kaien was a "true shinigami prodegy for progressing through a six-year curriculum in only one-year". If you give it thought, it has ground, but... It leads to more path's, but I don't want to wear it down.

Major problems with this. First there is pretty much no way Kaien could have been reborn as Ichigo. When he died he was mostly a hollow so he should have been cleansed and reborn in SS like a hollow would but he wasn't his body ended up in HM where #9 ate it gaining all his knowlage and powers. now It's a little unclear about what happens to souls eaten by hollows but pretty much everything points to those souls not being freed on the death of the hollow. once a soul is eaten it is gone. So at best Kaien's soul was traped in #9 till Rukia killed him but more likely he is gone.

Path 2: Isshin was indeed the King of Soul-Society, and had access to a vastly more-powerful knowledge of spells and skills not able to that of any ordinary resident, shinigami, or captain in the Gotei 13. Hell, I'd go as far as throwing the Chamber of 46, or whatever their called, into that category.

He was obviously aware that Kaien was going to be reborn in the human-world, and... Well, this is a sub-path scenario:

1 - He used a long-forgotten spell that sacrificed most of a shinigami's powers to attain a human-form for a very-temporary time. IE: Twenty-years. When he did this, he saved the rest, which was around Ichigo's starting spirit-pressure, and gave it to his son when he was born, but stored it within him, making it slowly-developing, so he wouldn't be targeted by Hollow's at an infancy age. However, it possibly developed too-fast because of Kaien's natural-abilities from the previous-life he lived in Soul-Society.

2 - Ichigo, Yazzu, Karrin, are all reincarnations of shinigami that Isshin knew in Soul-Society, and realized they could be pivotal... OR, they just meant a lot to him (And realized Kaien's importance if he is indeed reincarnated as Ichigo.), and he wanted to be with them, rather than stay in Soul-Society. Meaning he wondered the human-world, and managed to stop their souls from being reborn, and could choose when they would be born; After finding Masaki. *I find this one to be unlikely, though.*

Path 2: Isshin is indeed the King, but... He was tired of the way the shinigami were conducting themselves and no longer felt comfortable near them, and longed for a life in another world; Thus, he somehow went to the human-world. I have no clue what to think after this, though.

*Will edit later, out of time ATM*

The King doesn't seem to have had much contact with SS at all. 110 years ago Azein seems to have had no idea that there was a Royle guard and he was a VC at the time. And Urahara was responceable for his "power loss" most likely due to the untraceable body like he gave Rukia

If you want to connect Isshin with Kaien you might do better to focus on the Fall of the Shiba clan and the debt Kuukaku had to Urahara. Isshin would almost fit right in as an elder brother to her.